"Briel", a Portuguese name, translates into English as "Edsel", into Russian as 'Lada', and into Serbian as "Yugo".
Positive Product Points
Stainless steel exterior; front buttons; auto shutoff
Negative Product Points
Inferior materials for conveying water from tank thru tubing to heater.
Steamer
Push buttons
No Internal protection of electrical/electronic parts from water leakage.
Lousy Warranty on everything but the pump and the time taken for and frequency of multiple repairs.
Price versus value is abysmal.
Detailed Commentary
Reliability is lowest of any machine ever owned. The Multi-pro has been returned to manufacturer's rep in the US twice, a few weeks apart for two different failures, shipping costs now amounted to over $50.00. The Apollo pump quit after about a dozen uses.
The steamer didn't work on the Multi-pro a week after the second return, so I gave up on using it and got a battery powered frother instead, and a week later the push button to turn on the pump gave out. A slight tap on the button was all that was required to shut it of and and on, but it had to be learned where and how hard to tap it.
After one year the machine began leaking and I decided to disassemble it myself rather than return it at even more shipping charges, to try and fix it and if not, to just be done with it and throw it out.
Performed an autopopsy on it and found the hard plastic tubing that carries the water from the pump to the heater had widened by a millimeter, just enough to cause water to spray all over the place. I removed the line, cut it back a half inch, and put it back on. That cured it. For about a month. Then it began to leak again and this time in a tiny pinhole in the hard plastic housing that held the line, which I could not repair. I re-assembled it, ran it once to get a cup of espresso, heard a loud pop and the pump quit. The water spraying inside apparently shorted out the pump motor.
That's when I called customer service. After a month, they offered to provide a used machine with no warranty, as a solution, after working my way up three levels of customer service. Customer service states they are not interested in knowing about the problems and easy fixes with these machines, which tells me they expect them to fail and make money on expensive repairs. Their business model counts on selling machines that cost far more than they are worth, resulting in exorbitant profits at first sale and then making even more a few lears later with repairs or selling upgrades.
I've read the positive reviews about Briel but have any of the reviewers owned these machines for more than a year or two?
I suspect that I am not alone in owning three Briel machines costing from $150.00 to $400.00 and cannot get even one cup of coffee from any of them and the company itself chooses to politely though completely disregard the utter absurdity in that position.
Buying Experience
Briel in Georgia.
Irene and Maggie both pleasant in their demeanor but intentionally vague about their QC problems, as if they know about the lousy reliability of their machines, and actually hope for and count on it, dealing with the complaints by stating that their warranty is fair.
In all fairness you know the warranty going in. It's one year on everything but ten years on the pump. Spend your money elsewhere on machines with proven reliability and forget everything else.
